cal and mark

it is so funny how you have gotten a lot of board members posting. By your hints and possible errors (we will see) you have everyone stirred up. I also want to compliment you on the housing quest and the ricardo quest it is keeping people busy. Besides if no one complained you would not be doing a good job because it would be well who cares.

Stratics Veteran

Slightly confused logic there.. People are complaining because the job isn't good.

The event is a broken mess, which is confusing seeing how its nearly identical to the LAST event.

If you're going to recycle an event, there are NO excuses for it being broken.

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Question for you Martyna. Have you said anything good about them at all? I'm not saying this to criticize you or anything, but I'm asking a straight up question. Have you given them credit for the good things they've done?

Stratics Veteran

Indeed I have. But I don't sugar coat things or wave pom poms when what is delivered is sub standard.

Remember we pay for this, and UO is their job. You don't coddle your utilities, do you?

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I've never personally interacted with the folks who provide my utilities. I do, however, go out of my way to be kind to my waiters. Yes, I pay for my food and it is their job, but people who treat them as servants just drive me bonkers. I find if you are friendly and encouraging, they tend to do a better job for you.

In my opinion, your posts on here do sound like you are waving pom poms but in campaigning against them. Every chance you get, you have something negative to say. You always have to chime up. Someone on here has a kind word for them and you've just got to wave your negative pom poms.

I will say I think you have your valid points, but I think the message is getting lost in the campaigning. The event is working just fine on Pacific which is exactly opposite of your description. In case you didn't notice, this seems to be something new they are implementing where the shard EMs are implementing EA storylines. Yes, this is recycled, but it is my belief they are going through a learning curve with this. Just as the different EMs run different events, so too can you see some differences across the different shards. Ricardo, for instance, has slightly different dialogue on each shard.

At any rate, look at the bigger picture. My whole UO clan loved SA, they loved the Halloween Content, and they loved the Thanksgiving content. Alas, the momentum they had going hit a brick wall with the layoffs, but you have to keep that in mind. These guys are reorganizing and still trying to get content out to us. Personally, I haven't heard any complaints in-game with the people actually playing. It's only when you come here to Stratics that you hear the belly-aching.

You order a ceaser salad, and a cheerful waiter brings it. As you take the first bite you notice the lettuce is wilted and mushy, the dressing rancid... Do you think: 1) Well, this sucks, but damn that waiter was nice! OR 2) Wow. Not only does the kitchen not care, but neither does the waiter.

The current event is *not* good. Its a poorly done rehash of the housing quest that they didn't bother to even QA properly. The official fiction presented is ride with grammatical, formatting, and historical errors. The ingame NPC dialogue is the same, i.e. Avery think he was a private guard for Lord 'Francisco'.

Several key event pieces were missing on several shards well into this week. The reward items STILL have no names.

And quite frankly, no I honestly do not believe the current team has been doing a good job. Quality and communication are once again at an all-time low.

If you feel you've recieved a well thought out, well presented, and bug free event for your $12.99+ a month, then more power to you...

Edit to respond to your edited addition -

The EMs have *NOTHING* to do with this event whatsoever. This is a 100% coded event. Mesanna has gone around personally fixing many of the issues. SHE should be commended.

So to the layoffs.. That was what, 6+ months ago? Restructuring should be LONG over with.. a learning curve may account for *some* of it, but that excuse can only go on so long before it wears thin.

Stratics Veteran

You order a ceaser salad, and a cheerful waiter brings it. As you take the first bite you notice the lettuce is wilted and mushy, the dressing rancid... Do you think: 1) Well, this sucks, but damn that waiter was nice! OR 2) Wow. Not only does the kitchen not care, but neither does the waiter.

The current event is *not* good. Its a poorly done rehash of the housing quest that they didn't bother to even QA properly. The official fiction presented is ride with grammatical, formatting, and historical errors. The ingame NPC dialogue is the same, i.e. Avery think he was a private guard for Lord 'Francisco'.

Several key event pieces were missing on several shards well into this week. The reward items STILL have no names.

And quite frankly, no I honestly do not believe the current team has been doing a good job. Quality and communication are once again at an all-time low.

If you feel you've recieved a well thought out, well presented, and bug free event for your $12.99+ a month, then more power to you...

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So you thought SA, the Halloween Quest, and the Thanksgiving content sucked? Then my UO clan would roll their eyes at you. As for the waiter analogy, I've had that happen. What I've done is bring it to the waiter's attention in a friendly manner and they try to fix it. Unlike you, I don't make these glaring assumptions about people.

The reward items will likely not have a name until the next publish. It has been like that in the past. How does it affect you anyway? Do the mods not work properly because of the item title? It's not this glaring megacliloc message above your characters head. You have to actually mouse over the thing to see it. I worry about your blood pressure if you are going to get worked up over such a small little detail in a video game.

Also, how many shards have you visited? Ricardo's dialogue is slightly different on each shard. Some shards have babblings that other shards don't have, though they all have the book site dialogue. As for my $12.99 per account, yes, I'm getting my money's worth. My friends and I are in-game having fun with this. Yes, there are holes in the fiction, but guess what? There have always been holes. Heck, there were holes in the old Ultima games. That is why Ultima 2's continents looked like Earth and Ultima 3's content was pretty much one big square of land. I've actually found that the holes present unique roleplaying and story opportunities.

Case in point, Ricardo is back in jail and he's now mad. Why is this? Our guilds have now created storylines to explain this. In our story, Ricardo is now suffering from the same black madness that Sutek is suffering from. Furthermore, in our storylines, he was locked away because he was still a thief who had stolen from Britannian nobles even before the Ophidian War. He may have been pardoned for the whole Casca trial, but there are still crimes he must serve time for. As for Avery being a private guard to Lord Francisco, we haven't gotten around to working on that yet, but off the top of my head, perhaps Avery was indeed secretly enlisted by Lord Francisco to investigate corruption in the great council. Alas, it is only coming out now.

Anyway, while you're huffing and puffing and saying your "Please," remember that while Cal and Mark aren't waiters, they aren't utility men either. So might want to drop the hypocrisy there.

So you thought SA, the Halloween Quest, and the Thanksgiving content sucked? Then my UO clan would roll their eyes at you. As for the waiter analogy, I've had that happen. What I've done is bring it to the waiter's attention in a friendly manner and they try to fix it. Unlike you, I don't make these glaring assumptions about people.

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Nice jumping to conclusions there, since I've been speaking about the Ricardo event. But, if you want to jump the shark... Each event had its flaws.. Halloween was well done, aside from the issue with the sparklies eventually all spawning out of reach. Thanksgiving had the ability to abuse the maps so they would respawn over and over, and the overtweak they did to help bards making the turkeys a pushover. All in all, they were minor issues.

The errors with the Ricardo event have not been, and you can't be blind to them. Sub-par plot-hole filled fiction, the warehouse chest not being on some shards, no Ricardo, no Lt. Crag, etc. In comparison to the Halloween, Thanksgiving, & Ranger/Warden of the Abyss events - this event is a steaming pile.

As for assuming, I think you've done enough of that. I've called Mark lazy for not bothering to read prior fiction and the 'team' lazy for coding this event and then not bothering to test it. Both of which can be empirically proven...

The reward items will likely not have a name until the next publish. It has been like that in the past. How does it affect you anyway? Do the mods not work properly because of the item title? It's not this glaring megacliloc message above your characters head. You have to actually mouse over the thing to see it. I worry about your blood pressure if you are going to get worked up over such a small little detail in a video game.

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They probably will have names then, but that’s not really the point.. Seeing as this event was patched in a month ago and should have been completed then. Megacliloc errors tend to remain on TC, very rarely do we see them on a production shard unless a patch breaks something. I'm not worrying about it beyond the fact that it shows a lack of care by the Dev Team. Had the event gone through even a small amount of QA this would have been caught and fixed.

Also, how many shards have you visited? Ricardo's dialogue is slightly different on each shard. Some shards have babblings that other shards don't have, though they all have the book site dialogue. As for my $12.99 per account, yes, I'm getting my money's worth. My friends and I are in-game having fun with this. Yes, there are holes in the fiction, but guess what? There have always been holes. Heck, there were holes in the old Ultima games. That is why Ultima 2's continents looked like Earth and Ultima 3's content was pretty much one big square of land. I've actually found that the holes present unique roleplaying and story opportunities.

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Six shards, as I was curious what he said on other shards. The ramblings are slightly different, and some are oddly truncated. Oracle NPCs have always had issues. *shrugs*

Holes in the fiction have always been there yes. The current holes come directly from Mark not doing due diligence. Reading the fiction posted for the Shadowlord arc before starting a 'new' one could have resolved that. He didn't bother to do that...

As for Ultima II looking like Earth.. That’s because it was set ON Earth.. Minax invaded the Stranger's home world in revenge for killing her lover Mondain. Ultima III's map is square more because of the PC technology of the time, more so than the fiction itself.

Plot holes CAN present opportunities, but the ones created with this event aren't excusable since mark already admitted to not reading the stories.

Case in point, Ricardo is back in jail and he's now mad. Why is this? Our guilds have now created storylines to explain this. In our story, Ricardo is now suffering from the same black madness that Sutek is suffering from. Furthermore, in our storylines, he was locked away because he was still a thief who had stolen from Britannian nobles even before the Ophidian War. He may have been pardoned for the whole Casca trial, but there are still crimes he must serve time for. As for Avery being a private guard to Lord Francisco, we haven't gotten around to working on that yet, but off the top of my head, perhaps Avery was indeed secretly enlisted by Lord Francisco to investigate corruption in the great council. Alas, it is only coming out now.

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Creative and I applaud you for making your own RP. However, I'd rather have a knowledgeable person at the reigns of the official fiction who takes the time to do a little research. I'd also like someone who didn't post what must have been a first draft, Part 3 was far from professional.

Anyway, while you're huffing and puffing and saying your "Please," remember that while Cal and Mark aren't waiters, they aren't utility men either. So might want to drop the hypocrisy there.

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They aren't utility men or waiters - but they do provide a service that we pay for. When that service is substandard, and it is apparent that due diligence has not occurred, people will rightly complain.

Stratics VeteranStratics Legend

Slightly confused logic there.. People are complaining because the job isn't good.

The event is a broken mess, which is confusing seeing how its nearly identical to the LAST event.

If you're going to recycle an event, there are NO excuses for it being broken.

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Question for you Martyna. Have you said anything good about them at all? I'm not saying this to criticize you or anything, but I'm asking a straight up question. Have you given them credit for the good things they've done?

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I think if I knew as much as RaDian or Martyna, as far as UO lore and RP stuff, I'd be pretty vocal as well about plotholes and other stuff. However, other than plotholes, and ID errors, what's so majorly wrong with the game right now?

Although, a friend of mine has been bugged by this quest on at least one char, in which that char hasn't been able to get a bag after doing book quests. Like the Lt. npcs just don't respond to one of his chars, but all his other chars work.

Stratics Veteran

actually they fired the waiters. you have to wait now for a manager to HOPEFULLY come along to assist now.

btw, 'glaring assumptions'? it isn't an ASSUMPTION there are issues, dear, its a FACT.

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It makes no difference to me if the manager is taking care of me. I love this restaurant and the food they serve.

Furthermore "dear," I've played this game since the beginning. These issues as you refer to them have always existed, but the team is far better now about them than they were. People tend to look back and think of the glory days, but seriously, get real. Back in the day when Lord British was still in charge, I played through massive lag spikes which often got me killed. I also played through reverts and I also recall making an archer, only to watch people outrun my arrows.....

on foot!

Imagine if the current Dev Team implemented something like that. You guys would be posting about how the world is ending. So by all means, go ahead and cry over a missing title, which we know will get fixed with the next publish. After all, "dear," it is such a show stopper!

Stratics Veteran

The errors with the Ricardo event have not been, and you can't be blind to them. Sub-par plot-hole filled fiction, the warehouse chest not being on some shards, no Ricardo, no Lt. Crag, etc. In comparison to the Halloween, Thanksgiving, & Ranger/Warden of the Abyss events - this event is a steaming pile.

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I'm pretty sure I'm right about the fact that they are implementing these events differently than they did with the Halloween and Thanksgiving events. If it was like those, it's likely all shards would be experiencing those issues. Wonder why Mesanna is heading up the sorting out of this issue? My thought is because it's the EM program that's helping to implement it!

Furthermore, I suspect we don't have any inkling what's going on in the background. Perhaps they hoped to have a publish ready for us by now, but they hit a snag, so instead, they hurriedly put together this. Would you rather have this or have nothing at all? I prefer the former and I will argue for days with anyone who wants to try and rob me of the new content which keeps me entertained.

It's new. They are trying new means to provide us more consistent content. Bear with them.

As for assuming, I think you've done enough of that. I've called Mark lazy for not bothering to read prior fiction and the 'team' lazy for coding this event and then not bothering to test it. Both of which can be empirically proven...

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As I said before, we don't know the circumstances behind it. Do you have player fiction I can read so I can tear it apart?

They probably will have names then, but that’s not really the point.. Seeing as this event was patched in a month ago and should have been completed then.

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You're assuming this was patched in a month ago.

Six shards, as I was curious what he said on other shards. The ramblings are slightly different, and some are oddly truncated. Oracle NPCs have always had issues. *shrugs*

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So you admit the differences. Why is that if this was all patched in?

As for Ultima II looking like Earth.. That’s because it was set ON Earth.. Minax invaded the Stranger's home world in revenge for killing her lover Mondain. Ultima III's map is square more because of the PC technology of the time, more so than the fiction itself.

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You make excuses here but don't make excuses for the people who are currently writing the fiction. The stories changed later on. Minax didn't invade the strangers home world. I don't buy the PC technology. Ultima 2 wasn't square. That makes no sense.

As I pointed out before, you don't know if Mark was asked to write something on a moment's notice to go with this. As I mentioned, I've played UO a long time and often, they didn't release much fiction to go along with publishes or even expansions. Unlike you, I'm grateful for their efforts. They are making that effort which is an improvement on what it was before. If you're going to complain anyway, might as well not bother.

Plot holes CAN present opportunities, but the ones created with this event aren't excusable since mark already admitted to not reading the stories.

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Who cares? As I said before, what if the job was thrust on him last minute? As I said before, I don't have a problem with you raising issues, but I'll fight against your negative campaign which leads to....

They aren't utility men or waiters - but they do provide a service that we pay for. When that service is substandard, and it is apparent that due diligence has not occurred, people will rightly complain.

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You've gone beyond complaining. As I said before, the OP posted a note of support. I'm sure I've seen plenty of your complaints elsewhere. Why here? Do you need another place to wave your pom poms?

I'm pretty sure I'm right about the fact that they are implementing these events differently than they did with the Halloween and Thanksgiving events. If it was like those, it's likely all shards would be experiencing those issues. Wonder why Mesanna is heading up the sorting out of this issue? My thought is because it's the EM program that's helping to implement it!

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No, the Ems don’t have the power to do this event. Mesanna does. She is pretty much the only Dev with the knowledge to change things on active shards. The GMs don’t have those powers.

Why don’t you go ask your EM if they’ve done anything with the creation of implementation of this event… I’ll wait.

If you must keep bringing up last year’s holiday events, then you should recognize the fact that these people probably didn’t do them – they were most likely mainly coded pre-layoff by people who knew what they were doing. Again, 5 months have passed…

Furthermore, I suspect we don't have any inkling what's going on in the background. Perhaps they hoped to have a publish ready for us by now, but they hit a snag, so instead, they hurriedly put together this. Would you rather have this or have nothing at all? I prefer the former and I will argue for days with anyone who wants to try and rob me of the new content which keeps me entertained.

It's new. They are trying new means to provide us more consistent content. Bear with them.

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What’s going on in the ‘background’ is immaterial. UO is a service we PAY for. They must maintain professionalism, quality, and be QUICK to fix issues – just like you would expect from any other service you pay a monthly bill to.

Honestly, I’d rather have well crafted, tested, and properly implemented event over this dreck. If you are happy with sloppy and substandard work, or have come to expect it from UO, then it is you with the problem.

As I said before, we don't know the circumstances behind it. Do you have player fiction I can read so I can tear it apart?

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Player fiction is aimed at a much smaller audience, with much smaller goals. This was “professional” fiction from a “professional” game studio – yet there was nothing “professional” about it. Again, quality over quantity. Simply because they churned out something doesn’t mean they get a pat on the back and a cookie.

Yeah, because it was – although some tweaking has occurred due to bugs on individual shards. If it hadn’t been patched in, then someone would had to have gone to EACH shard to do the initial set up, and then go to EACH shard to lay down the books. That’s woefully inefficient, even for EA Mythic.

You make excuses here but don't make excuses for the people who are currently writing the fiction. The stories changed later on. Minax didn't invade the strangers home world. I don't buy the PC technology. Ultima 2 wasn't square. That makes no sense.

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Please, don’t pretend you know Ultima when you obviously don’t.

From the Ultima Wikia: http://ultima.wikia.com/wiki/Ultima_II“The Player, again as the Stranger, doesn't have the task to save Sosaria, but instead Earth itself from the Enchantress Minax. Being the lover and apprentice of Mondain, she is quite angry over his death by the Stranger's hand, and swears revenge. Manipulating the timeline to this end, she let Earth die in an atomic holocaust in 2111 - all life on Earth perished in the Aftermath.

The Stranger, having escaped from the changes in the timeline at the last moment, has to decypher the mystery of the Time Doors, which enable time travel, to reach Minax and prevent these horrible events from ever happening. Gathering the only weapon that can kill Minax, the Quicksword Enilno, and wearing the protection of the Force Field Ring, the Stranger travels back to the Time of Legends and confronts Minax in her castle to kill her. With her death, the timeline returns to normal, with no one remembering the horrible events that occurred in the changed timeline - all except the Stranger.”

Emphasis mine. As for Ultima III, it was released in 1983 – so yeah, PC tech of the day was a BIG factor. Not to mention, if you go look at a map of Sosaria from U3, it’s not a perfect square. (http://ultima.wikia.com/wiki/File:U3map.jpg) They have explained the cataclysms that befell Sosaria after Ultima I and radically changed the topography. While yes, this is a tad lame, again, it was 1983.

And no, I’m not going to let Mark slide for NOT reading fiction posted less than a year ago. It’s only his JOB ya know, something he should be good at.

As I pointed out before, you don't know if Mark was asked to write something on a moment's notice to go with this. As I mentioned, I've played UO a long time and often, they didn't release much fiction to go along with publishes or even expansions. Unlike you, I'm grateful for their efforts. They are making that effort which is an improvement on what it was before. If you're going to complain anyway, might as well not bother.

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You’re right, we don’t know. That doesn’t make it acceptable, and you know that. I’ve played since the pre-alpha, I know what effort has been expended over the years. Often times the fiction released with an expansion has been decent, other times it’s not. Ilshenar’s revolving history springs to mind…

Not bother? Right. Let’s hold a company that we give money to every month to a low standard, that sounds awesome! For them. One thing that many people seem to forget is that you PAY these people’s wages. UO is a service. They are not your BFF who you let things slide for. EA Mythic has to be held to a certain level of competence and professionalism, not coddled like an addled child.

Who cares? As I said before, what if the job was thrust on him last minute? As I said before, I don't have a problem with you raising issues, but I'll fight against your negative campaign which leads to....

You've gone beyond complaining. As I said before, the OP posted a note of support. I'm sure I've seen plenty of your complaints elsewhere. Why here? Do you need another place to wave your pom poms?

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Even if the job was thrust upon him, there is a professional standard that is NOT being met. If you are willing to accept quantity over quality, plot holes large enough the moons can fly through, and outright LAZY errors – then your opinion really doesn’t matter much in the long run. Those of us who actually want UO to be a better game, and who want the Dev Team to have some professionalism will continue to push for it.

It makes no difference to me if the manager is taking care of me. I love this restaurant and the food they serve.

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Awesome! Enjoy your cold spaghetti that maybe a manager will bring out, if they feel like it. Myself, I enjoy it warmed, served on time and properly (along with a smile from my waiter). Heck, I'll even take some garlic bread.

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